District bars from yearbook memorials to dead students

CAIRO, Neb. – A central Nebraska school district has told the parents of two students killed in a traffic accident that they can’t buy space in the school yearbook to honor their children.

The Centura Junior/Senior High School students, 16-year-old Bailey Jean Packer and 17-year-old Navi Nielsen, died last month after crashing in rural Howard County.

Friends and family think the district is being insensitive. Tara Schenk, whose family raised Bailey Packer since fourth grade, says they were also upset the district immediately removed from the school photographs and drawings done by Bailey.

Officials say they’re following district policy and their training on student grieving. Superintendent Julie Otero says the expert they’re following recommends districts remove photographs and clean out lockers of deceased students because adolescents need “finality” when grieving.